Syllabus for Post-Soviet Transformation: Economic, Legal and Social Development in Russia

Learning outcomes

After the course the student should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• demonstrate knowledge about and reason around societal development in Russia and Eurasia, with particular focus on its economic, legal and social dimensions,
• demonstrate an understanding of basic concepts and theories of social sciences of relevance for the development in Russia and Eurasia.

Competence and skills

• use basic concepts and theories in the social sciences of relevance for interpreting the development in Russia and Eurasia,
• formulate and solve research problems related to the post-Soviet transformation,
• interpret, analyse and explain the economic, legal and social transformation in Russia and Eurasia.

Judgement and approach

• evaluate, analyse and critically assess scientific research about societal development in Russia and Eurasia with respect to economic, legal and social aspects,
• independently identify and problematise different central research questions of relevance for theory building around post-Soviet transformation.

Content

The aim is to develop the student's knowledge about societal development in Russia and Eurasia, with particular emphasis on economic, legal and social aspects. The course will provide the student with tools to independently analyse and assess ongoing development tendencies in the region.

In the course, the change of the societal system from the Soviet Union to contemporary Russia will be analysed; through Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika; the 1990s under president Boris Yeltsin; and president Vladimir Putin's time in power, with particular emphasis on economic, legal and social processes. The course problematises the development in Russia and Eurasia with the help of different concepts and theories in the social sciences. These theories are placed against each other and their explanatory value is analysed. The emphasis is on the development in Russia, but comparisons will continuously be made with other countries in the post-Soviet region.

Instruction

Lectures and seminars.

Assessment

The course is examined through seminars and a research report.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator or a decision by the department's working group for study matters.